Peace and War
Armed Conflicts and International Order, 1648–1989

Professor Holsti examines the origins of war and the foundations of peace of the last 350 years.

Kalevi J. Holsti (Author)

9780521399296, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 April 1991

400 pages, 8 b/w illus. 20 tables
22.6 x 15 x 2.5 cm, 0.54 kg

'… this book is an important contribution that will be useful to both students and colleagues. It is clearly organized and eminently readable. The scale of it forces one to think across a broad sweep of history, and to consider some key-scale trends.' International Affairs

In this book, Professor Holsti approaches the study of the origins of war and the foundations of peace from a distinct perspective. He asks three interrelated questions. Which issues generate conflict? How have attitudes towards war changed? And, what attempts have been made historically to create international orders and institutions that can manage, control or prevent international conflicts? Starting with the peace treaties of Munster and Osnabruck of 1648, Kalevi Holsti examines 177 international wars. Through these, he identifies the variety of conflict-producing issues and how they, as well as the attitudes of policy makers to the use of force, have changed over the last 350 years. He demonstrates how the orders established by the great peacemaking efforts of 1648, 1713, 1815, 1919 and 1945 attempted to solve the issues of the past, yet few successfully anticipated those of the future. Indeed, some created the basis of fresh conflicts.

Preface
1. On the study of war
2. Munster and Osnabruck: peace by pieces
3. War and peace in the era of the heroic warriors, 1648–1713
4. Act Two of the hegemony drama: the Utrecht settlements
5. The lethal minuet: war and peace among the Princes of Christendom, 1715–1814
6. Peace through equilibrium: the settlements of 1814–1815
7. Conflict and consent, 1815–1914
8. 1919: peace through democracy and covenant
9. War as the aftermath of peace: international conflict 1918–1941
10. Peace by policing
11. The diversification of warfare: issues and attitudes in the contemporary international system
12. Issues, war, and international theory
13. The peacemakers: issues and international order
Bibliography
Additional data sources
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]